I've been in the ball turret in flight. Interesting experience. VERY noisy, wind shrieking around/through the turret. At the time I did they didn't have the turret working with power, it had to be hand cranked. Limited field of view. It would be difficult to see attacking fighters unless you had the turret pointed at them.
Odd sensation to be hanging under the airplane, almost as if you aren't part of the bomber.
